Plant-propagation cell or container



Feb. 20, 1923. I Y

. H. F. BLACKWELL PLANT PROPAGATION-CELL 0R CONTAINER Filed sepfo. 22, 1921 avwentoz:

1%? J7 WW 244M Patented Feb. 20, 1923.

UNITED STATES, PATENT OFFICE. f

HENRY F. BLACKWELL, OF HIGHL AND, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR 'IO' MAUDE A. BLACKWELL, OF HIGHLAND, lNEW YORK.

PLANT-PROPAGATION CELL on. CONTAINER.

Application filed September 22, 1921. Serial No. 502,395.

To all whom. it may concem:

Be it known that I, HENRY F. BLACKWELL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Highland, Ulster County, State of New York, have invented a new and useful Plant-Propagation Cell or Container, of

which the following is a specification.

While applicable to the propagation and growth of plants generally, my invention 10 is designed more especially to provide containing means that will aid and facilitate the germination of spores, seeds, bulbs, etc, in embryo, and also the preliminary growth therefrom, as well as from cuttings or slips, and of young plants, substantially in the manner and for-the purposes hereinafter more fully set fort-h, the invention consisting primarily and essentially in a containercell formed of a combination of elements consisting of a composition comprising a moisture retaining substance, a plant food or fertilizer, and a binder.

Vegetable matter in the soil, in the process of disintegration, is known as humus; as 25 also is the vegetable matter still in cellular form occurring in stable manure, peat, leaf mould, straw, weed stems, etc. The latter substances are further differentiated by the term rawhumus. This vegetable matter or raw humus is acted upon by the elements slowly and by bacilli rapidly, and converted into humogen and other compounds of a colloidal character; among which are several acids; and is the preferred moisture retaining element used in my concretion. In thisdecom'posed vegetable matter organized cellulose is'disintegrated more or less completely, and consists of some plant cells, a large proportion 40 of carbonaceous matter, a quantity of nitrogen in COIIlblIlE-difOl' Hl, usually about 4%,

. and a number of vegetable or colloidal acids and compounds more or less known,the

adapted to contribute to plant development.

The humogen is spongy, and when damp will easily retain from to 70% of its weight of water. The acids, particularly the humic acid, also act upon the uncombined phosphate of calcium, nitrogen, potash, and other elements, in the commercial fertilizers used, and herein designated as the plan t ,food element of my agglomeration, thereby adaptlng said plant fertilizer food for plant assimilation in the form of hum-ates.

sitional to pectin; and is most ,valuable to my purpose in its nascent form in the presence of a suita-blebase- Thus, the acids, particularly the humic acid, attack and combine with the nitrogen, calcium, potassium and otherbases, either aloneor in combination with phosphoric acid, forming in the one case humates and in the other phosphohum'ates of the elements.

As these salts of humic acid are for the greater part soluble, the humogen is'best for the purpose described when prepared by bacterial action on raw humus and protected from the leaching effects of rains, etc.

Mixtures of humus of various kinds, presenting desired bases, as lime, iron, sulphur, ammonia, etc., may be made; and when inoculated with suitable bacteria for thedevelopment of humic acid, salts of that acid are formed directly; and if the so-called nitrogen-fixing bacteria. are used ammonium huinate is formed and as such are available or in condition for, ready assimilation by the plant; exactly as the human system readily assiinilates the 'compounds of peptic acid in the forms of peptones and peptonates.

I use the term plant food element as designating the constituents of commercial fertilizers generally, commonly comprising nitrogen, phosphorlc' ac1d and potash combined with varlous substances, some of which are inert, some detrimental, and some beneficial to plant developcarbon'aceous' material and nitrogen being. ment. These commercial fertilizers are I classified in accordance with the percentages of these substances which they contain in uncor nbined form. For instance a. plant nitrogen, 10% of phosphoric acid, and 3% of potash. The binding element usedxto unltexthe I moisture retaining element to the plant food element may consist of any suitable hardening or setting material not deleterious to plant growth. A preferred formof binder for my purpose is one in which casein is used,-'-that substance containing hydrogen 7%, carbon 53%, nitrogen 16%, sulphur 1%, phosphorus 1%, oxygen 22%. The casein is obtained from pot-cheese by washing out the soluble ingredients, and is used in combi'nation with slaked lime(calcium hydrate). lVhen casein 16 parts and slaked lime parts are kneaded together with a small amount of water, a sticky glue-like mass results, which may be further diluted and added to thepowdered humogen and plant food, when .the whole admixture may be kneaded into a homogeneous mass and pressed into form.

Sodium silicate may be used to replace the water in the cheese-lime mass with good re suits, the silica lending elasticity and toughness to the woody parts of the plant in its calcium chloride, in solution, and adding so-.

later growth.

Calcium oxychloride, prepared'by combining calcium oxide, (quick lime) with dium silicate, produces a double decomposi tion'resulting in the precipitation of pure silica crystals (quartz);

The liberation of sodium or potassium from any of its salts, which occur in the fertilizers or binding materials exercise a partial solvent action, particularly in presence of sulphur, uponthe cellulose,.changing it into viscol, a glue like material, valuable as a binder, but occuring in small quantities.

Viscol (cellulose sulphate) alone would make an admirable binder, but its cost is prohibitive.

In the accompanying drawings, by way of exemplification, I illustrate forms of containers which may be used in the practical application .of my invention, although I do not limit myself in this respect, the specific configuration of my container being secondary to the compositionremployed in its manufacture, so that various modifications may be resorted to without departing from the spiritand intent of my invention, which contemplates, broadly, a cell or container composed of a moisture retaining element. a plant food element, and a binder, whereby the container is adapted to the purposes designated. I

With this understanding, Fig. 1, is a perspective view of a container adapted for general use as a receptacle for a seedling, bulb, cutting, or plant;

Fig. 2, is a vertical central section of a cell adapted for seed or spore g'ermination;

Fig. 3, is 'a perspective view of an elone gate container adapted to grape-vine propagation from cuttings, and analogous purposes;

means Fig.4, is a sectional View illustrating, an adaptation of my invention to the transplanting of sprouts or plants of incipient growth.

The container illustrated in Fig. 1, is de= signed more particularly for potted plants, and is made with relatively thin side walls and with a relatively thick bottom. The cavity for the soil and plant is of inverted convergent conoidal shape, as indicated by dotted lines in said figure, to facilitate drainage by filtration; is intended to fit inside of a common flower pot, or similar receptacle, the intervening space, if any, being filled with dry sand.

Fig. 2, illustrates the use of an initiating propagation cell in which the seed or similar incip1ent embryo is embedded in dry soil 8,

This form of container particularly average considerable distance between eyes, and as it is desirable to have two eyes below the soil surface, this form of container is made long, and with a deep cavity as indicated by dotted lines.

In Fig. 4, an initiating seed-propagating cell 0, such as shown in Fig. 2, is shown as.

transferred to a larger propagating cell 0',

after the seed has sprouted and the roots have penetrated such primary cell c. The young plants may be thus transferred and transplanted without disturbing the roots or retarding the growth of the plant.

In the manufacture of the various forms of my plant propagation container, the first essential in the solidification of humogen, is to reduceit to a finely divided condition. This may be done, either dry, with suitable dust collectors, or wet with a small stream of water flowing through the mill, which should preferably be equipped with oldfashioned buhr stones. There is a fire and explosion hazard incident to the dry grinding method, and the wet method requires precipitant and settling tanks. methods require about the same amount of manual labor.

The dry grinding method is best suited to treating swamp humogen, resulting from the oxidation of vegetable matter, in the form of peat while the wet grinding method is best suited to that humogen received from ble matter. The strongly astringent quali- Both ties of alum harden the albuminoids of the animal organisms, and these are precipitated with the humogen, augmenting the nitrogen content.

. The humogen pulp, either wet or dry, must next be compounded into a plastic mass; the addition of plant food to agree with formula requirements, and proper agglutinants, to bind the pulp into a tenacious dough that will harden-on drying, or set hard before drying.

The addition of a smallamount of calcium hydrate (slaked lime)%and potassium hydrate (caustic potash) will cause the hu- Inogen mass to harden upon drying, probably because of the solvent action of the two caustics upon the partially broken down cellulose.

. Carbon I disulphide gas as a pre-treata very sticky agglutinant that sets before,

drymg. Calcium oxychloride, with or'without the addition of sodium silicate, sets before drymg. I

' Dextrin, starch, flour and similar agglutinants used in briquetting powdered fuel, may be used; provided only that oils, tars, resins, and allied substances are omitted.

The agglutinant should contribute to the feeding of the plant; should bind the mate rial into a strong hard mass; should yield gradually to I the combined". action of the plant roots, warmth, moisture, reagents and bacteria; .but should keep hard and firm while in contact with air; it should not soften in a humid atmosphere through hy-' groscopic moisture.

.. To arrive at a clear understanding of the practical value of my system of plantpropa gation, it will be necessary to describe and consider the practice of plant culture as v heretofore known in the art Briefly, the

current practice of plant propagation, tale ing as example such plants as peppers, tomatoes and cabbages, consists in sowing the seed in drills in the greenhouse. When the plants show four leaves, they are thinned out until they stand two inches apart. The

.,plants removed are sometimes reset or 'pricked'out in another place. This oper ation dlsturbs the root systems of the plants remaining in the drills as well as those res'et, stopping the. growth for about five-days. When the plants are three inches high,.they

are transplanted into a cold frame, and when necessary covered with hot bed sash, to

harden.

This transplanting again disturbs the roots, and the growth is checked for another five or six days. Finally, the plants are set out in the field or garden prepared for. them with a third disturbance of the roots, and about one weeks stoppage of growth. In all under the current method of propagation and planting, plants are set back from two to three weeks in their development. This is an important matter where early fruiting and long seasons are essential for profit to the grower.

My method of cell propagation saves this loss of time in plant development, and also saves the labor of two men and a team, together with the cost of fertilizing material in spotting the hills, and the cost of the labor of working the fertilizing material 35 into the soil at each hill, before the plants are set out in the fields At the time of setting out plants-in the field, it is the custom to stop planting if the ground is drying too rapidly owing to the suns intense heat;.ideal weather for such purpose being overcast ordrizzling with the soil moist. The young plants wilt rapidly and soon die in the dry soil. This necessitates replacing the plants.

All of this unnecessary labor and expense is avoided by my system, as each plant is set out in its own cell or container, which is equivalent to a ball of earth around the rootsyand containssuflicient moisture and plant nourishment for its protection till the night dews replenish the soils moisture Hence, resets are largely obviated.

Among the uses of my invention is the propagation of plants and. bulbs from seed.

The container for this. use is a small cup about two and one half inches high, one and three quarters inches in diameter, and with a conical cavity three quarters of an inchgin diameter, reaching to about one eighth inch of. the bottom, subsfintially as shown in Figs 2, of the drawings. The composite material of which the cell is composed is yieldableto the combined actions of soil bacilli, moisture, and the plants roots,,thus becoming 1 available for plant nourishment.

My propagative containers are of value to truck growers, who raise their own plants,-

while wholesalegrowers of plants, and fiorists, will find a very broad field of applica- 1 20 t-ion for them in the sale of growing plants.

The containers for the propagation of cuttings are made relatively deep, and of small diameter, to include at least two buds of the cutting. 7

My propagating cells will be found of value in the production of rapidly growing plants like lettuce, and may be made of a compound that will force the foliage and retard the seed development-. This will en- 13'0 able the grower to market growing vege-' tables. To summarize, my containers may be advantageously used to propagate plants from seeds; to propagate plants from cuttings; to

and for various other utilitarian purposes.

It is obvious that the formulae herein set forth for the manufacture of my containers may be varied to an almost indefinite extent by the addition of other materials adapted to produce various efiects on the growing plant, so that I do not restrict my invention in this particular, the indispensables being the moisture conserving element, the plant food element, and the binding-element, all three in homogeneous concreteness, irrespective of the presence of other-ingredients included therewith for specific purposes of plant treatment. I

amie men't, substantially-in the manner and for the purpose described.

2. As van article of manufacture, a container of the character designated for plant propagation, composed of a moisture conserving element, a plant food element, and

a binding. element, substantially in the manner and for the purpose described.

As an article of'manufacture, a container designed for plant propagation composed of a moisture conserving element, so- 40 lidified by a binding element, and a plant food element and given permanent shape.

HENRY F. BLACKWELL. Witnesses GEO. WM. MrA'rr, Doro ray Mm'rn 

